Terrorist roulette

David Ignatius:

"Imagine for a moment a horrifying game called 'terrorist roulette.' The unfortunate players are huddled in different groups and spend much of their time bickering about who got them into this mess.

"Every few days one of the players is taken away and shot.

"If the players could agree on a common strategy, they could overwhelm the assassins. But none will sacrifice their individual prerogatives for the logic of collective action. Some imagine they'll be safe if they stay separate and keep their heads down. Others try subtly to make friends with the captors. The most muscular member of the group insists he can 'go it alone.'

"So the quarreling goes on. And every few days, another victim is hauled off and killed.

"Unfortunately, this isn't a ghoulish exercise in game theory but an analogy to what has happened over the past few months as the war in Iraq has become more deadly and more international. The logic of uniting to fight a common enemy could not be clearer, yet the political discord continues."

This is an interesting piece, but Ignatius follows the liberal line in accusing the Bush administration of "going it alone." It went with a coalition of the willing., and to do nothing would have been worse. There is a presumption that other parties could have been persuaded. It is a false assumption.

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